The Case of the Phantom Pharaoh
by Elena George
Summary: Gil has always wanted to visit the pyramids. Now he gets to dig near them.


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, CBS et al do. I just write for entertainment purposes. Hope you enjoy this story. FYI: For the ancient Egyptian names, pronounce all the letters you see, including final "e's."

The Case of the Phantom Pharaoh

By Elena George

Catherine was humming to herself as she peered into the microscope lenses.

"My, you sound happy this evening," commented Grissom as he passed by her.

Catherine looked up and smiled.

"Got a date?" Grissom said accusingly with one eyebrow raised.

"Nope," was her terse reply as she screwed up her face at him. "I thought we were passed all that."

Grissom looked down, a bit ashamed, then nodded, "We are. I just…" he left it there.

Catherine continued to look at him, this time dispassionately.

Grissom began to inventory the evidence on the table before him.

"Gil," started Catherine who refocused her attention back upon the evidence under the microscope, "how would you like to go on a dig near the pyramids?"

Grissom looked up, "Pyramids? As in Giza, Egypt?"

"Yep, those ones," Catherine now looked up when she heard his voice peaked with interest.

"Well, of course, I would. I mean, I've always…" Grissom's eyes narrowed.

Catherine reached into a pocket and pulled out a brochure and sent it down the table toward him. Grissom reached out and pulled it the rest of the way. He stopped and read through the brochure carefully, turning it over and over.

"Is this a joke?" he wanted to know.

Catherine shook her head with a slight grin, "No jokes."

Grissom beamed with pleasure.

Two months later, Gil Grissom was on a plane to Cairo. He had stowed a bag above and below his seat and was nestling in when he heard a voice.

"Move over Gil," Catherine teased. "You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, now did you?"

Grissom looked up and smiled widely, "I didn't know you like archaeology."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me Gil Grissom," Catherine said defiantly but with twinkles in her eyes.

Within an hour, Grissom was very much asleep, slumped against the window. The day grew into night much faster than Catherine had ever imagined it could, even though they were flying eastward. She was too keyed up to sleep and envied Grissom.

"You know it's just not fair that you can sleep all wadded up," she grumbled in a low voice. "The least you could do is make yourself look comfortable before falling asleep."

Catherine reached over and shut the blind on the window even though little daylight was left to shut out. She reached up and called the flight attendant.

The attendant turned off the call button, "How may I help you?" an attractive young man inquired.

"Can you get me some blankets and pillows? And can you help me make him at least look comfortable?"

The attendant returned with blankets and pillows.

"This arm between you and your husband comes up…this button allows the seat to go back to nearly flat like a bed," he said quietly.

Grissom stirred a little, "What's… Catherine?"

"You looked really uncomfortable, Gil," she began. "The steward here has some blankets and pillows for us." She pulled up the dividing armrest and thrust it out of the way. "And this," pushing the button, "makes the seat go back."

Grissom fought against the gravity that was moving his body backwards.

"But I was happy the way I was," he protested.

"Yes and you would have bitched at me on the ground about a stiff neck," she protested back as she handed Grissom his blanket and pillow.

Grissom grunted and rolled back over into sleep again. Since his back was toward her, Catherine did not see his half-grin. Before he nodded back off, he reached into a pocket and handed her a sleeping pill in a push pack. Catherine looked at him, shook her head, and took the pill. She pushed her seat back into the "almost bed" position, threw the cover over her head and tried to fall asleep. She wriggled her fanny and back into Grissom's fanny and back. Hours later, she awakened to use the lav. She found that she was snuggled face into Grissom's back while he had not moved an inch. Upon returning to her seat, she again tucked her back against his. Part of her was flushed by the contact while another part was deeply troubled. She tugged gently at his cover to ensure separation of bodies even as she did the same with her blanket. The next time she awakened, she felt Grissom's soft beard against her face; she felt the weight of his arm over hers; she felt his warm, steady breathing on the back of her neck. Her senses were overloaded as Grissom began to stir himself. He took a deep breath and gently squeezed Catherine. His nose nuzzled the back of her ear. A moment later, she felt him lift his arm off and stretch and roll onto his back.

Catherine rolled over, "Sleep well?"

Grissom murmured something incomprehensible, still not quite awake. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and turned toward Catherine.

"Are we there, yet?" he wanted to know as he fumbled in his jacket pocket. "How do you get this back into a chair?" he looked around for that magic button.

Catherine reached over and pointed to the switch. Grissom nodded, unmaking the "bed."

Running his tongue across his incisors, "Gotta brush my teeth!" he exclaimed and headed toward the lav.

Catherine sat her seat back up and shook the sleep from her head.

Once the plane was at the gate, the passengers gathered up their belongings and made for the door. The air seemed heavy and close to Catherine. Grissom's head brushed the overhead bin as he waited his turn to get out. They had been in business class and moved out quickly once the door was opened into the gate area. Novel smells assaulted their nostrils as they entered Egypt.

"I hope you were not looking forward to a Big Mac," Grissom teased Catherine as they made their way to Customs.

"Hmmm…smells like lots of garlic and onions to me," she replied.

"Wasn't that what the Children of Abraham were pestering Moses about having left back in Egypt?" Grissom chuckled.

Catherine wrinkled her nose just a little bit, "Too much," she whispered.

Grissom cleared Customs rapidly. He carried only the two bags while Catherine had to retrieve her one checked bag. Finally Catherine joined Grissom in the gaggle of other Western tourists gathering around Ali Wassan.

Ali addressed the group, "Greetings and welcome to Egypt! I am Ali Wassan, your servant for your time here. I welcome you to our ancient land in the name of the Head of Antiquities, Dr Muhammad Halwas. We are so very glad that you could each come to participate in our newest dig on the Giza plateau."

Ali consulted a clipboard and began to count the individuals standing in a mob before him.

"Mr. Wassan?" one Englishman called out.

"Yes sir, please call me Ali. How may I be of service?" Ali cheerfully replied.

"My wife Mildred is still stuck in Customs. Can you get her through a little more expeditiously?"

"Not to worry, sir. We've still a number of our party who've not cleared Customs as yet."

The Englishman snorted and stepped away. Grissom and Catherine made eye contact with one another. Grissom's eyebrows did their usual "well…" routine that Catherine was so used to. She gave him the vaguest hint of a smile in return. Grissom was glad that Catherine was here with him. He nearly always enjoyed her company. Since the men in her life were safely back in Nevada and it was unlikely that she'd be in one of her more provocative outfits nor being treated harshly by one of them, he rested comfortably in her presence. Once collected together, Ali read out the list of names he had on his clipboard. In all there were 30 lucky amateur archaeologists who had signed up for the experience of a working tour on the Giza plateau. Most were married couples from either the United States or United Kingdom; however, there was one Greek couple and two brothers from Russia. The concept of a working tour was the brainchild of Dr Halwas. He needed the extra trained eyes; Egypt needed the tourism dollars; and the tourists craved the excitement of possible discovery. Everybody's needs and desires were met.

The tourists put their luggage under the coach. As they climbed aboard, another of Dr. Halwas's assistants handed out bottled water and sandwiches. Amir smiled broadly, "Welcome, welcome," his heavily accented voice sang out with a nod to every tourist. Catherine and Grissom took seats a few rows back from the front while a newly married British couple headed for the back of the bus, giggling all the while. The Russians chattered away, pointing, and looking at nearly everything within eyeshot. The Greeks sat immediately behind Grissom and Catherine. Amir exchanged the seat with the snacks for the driver's seat as Ali counted all 30 tourists aboard. He said something to Amir who closed the door and began to look for a hole in traffic. Cars and busses had steadily driven past their bus for the thirty or so minutes it took to get everyone's gear stowed and the people loaded on the bus.

"Can everyone hear me?" Ali asked to head's bobbing up and down.

"Again, I want to welcome you to Egypt and my hometown of Cairo," his hand swept sideways. "One way to combat the fatigue of jet lag is to eat light meals and drink plenty of water. So please do not hesitate to ask for water. Also, as a sensible precaution, drink only the bottled water we provide. We cannot insure that other water sources are pure. We do not want any of you to become ill."

Catherine looked at Grissom who was nodding his head, "Kind of like going to Mexico," she whispered.

"Actually not any more," Grissom corrected her. "Most Mexicans, especially near our borders, enjoy clean water nowadays. It's not like it was 40 years ago."

Catherine just looked at him and shook her head. Grissom was simply a walking encyclopedia. The trip out to the site tore through the heart of old Cairo. The driver, Amir, practically glued his hand to the horn. Some times they followed a donkey cart at 2 miles an hour. Other times they jetted around wide avenues at ridiculous speeds.

Catherine muttered to Grissom, "I would never bring Lindsey here to learn to drive!"

Grissom's face began a half grin as the bus jerked to a stop and another horn-curse spat its way onto another motorist who had recklessly shot in front of the bus. The moped ignored the bus and weaved in and out of the traffic. Momentarily, it vanished from view into a throng of humanity.

"'T'isn't so bad really," a woman's voice offered from directly behind Catherine. "We are from Athens, and traffic is like this at home, too. You get used to it," Maria smiled and her husband nodded. "Maria, and this is my husband Jason."

Catherine twisted around and offered her hand over the top of the seat, "Catherine," she said and nudged Grissom.

"I'm Gil," Grissom, in the aisle seat, twisted around and leaned backward as the bus swayed crazily yet again. He caught himself before being catapulted into the aisle.

Maria began again, "Have you ever done one of these tours before?"

Grissom shook his head as Catherine relayed their story, "We're from Las Vegas and thought this would be something very different. It's Gil's birthday, more or less, and he loves archaeology and has never been to the pyramids and…" The bus lurched once more throwing Catherine against the seat in front of her.

Grissom spun around and helped her back into the seat.

This time Catherine did not put her knees in the back of the seat but turned around only a little, "Anyhow, we thought it would be fun."

The Greeks nodded. Grissom stifled a big yawn. Jason was hardly listening at all to the women getting to know one another. The bus left the city for the open road to Giza. Twilight hovered at the fringes of the eastern sky. The dusky purples would soon drown out the maze of stars overhead. After the bus pulled into the camp, they could see the great pyramids from their camp. Grissom stood by the bus transfixed by the sight.

"Isn't this yours?" Catherine asked him as she placed one of his bags near his feet.

"Huh? Yeah, thanks, Catherine," he offered as he turned back to the vision he had longed to see with his own eyes. "You know I can't tell you how much this means to me," he said softly, never taking his eyes off the monuments.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Ali called out, not quite breaking Grissom's reverie, "if you will please follow me to your tents."

Catherine muttered about hating camping and tents and bugs, at least the kind that bite. Then she noticed that Grissom still stood dazzled by it all.

"Hey, Grissom!" she hollered.

At the sound of his name, his head pivoted toward Catherine. He saw her motioning with her head that they were moving out. Slowly, he plucked his bags off the ground, took one more longing look, and walked swiftly to catch up with the tour group.

There were exactly 15 men and 15 women in the group. There were exactly two billeting tents, exactly two shower tents, and exactly one mess tent that also doubled as a common area. Each of the billeting tents resembled medium-sized, red and white striped circus tents. The shower tents were half the size of the billeting tents while the mess tent was twice the size of the billeting tents. A diesel 15 KW generator, which powered it all, throbbed in the distance. Armed men stood on sand berms that surrounded the encampment. Catherine looked around and was duly impressed by the reasonably luxurious facilities insofar as camping was concerned. Each army cot had its own mosquito net.

Grissom asked, "Why the armed guards, Ali?"

Ali crept closer and in a near whisper, "Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, sir. You see we have had to deal with these sorts for much longer than you Americans have had to. My family and I are Christian, and the Muslim Brotherhood would see us all in hell if they could. Our government deals harshly with these sorts which keep them in check. You understand, yes?"

Grissom nodded, "Sure, thanks." Grissom wondered about how much Ali really believed what he had to tell the tourists. Violence was obviously a daily part of life here. As Grissom dropped his bags on his cot, he wondered what life had been like in the Pharaoh's Egypt.

A bell rang out from the mess tent. Grissom and the other men headed toward the sound. Ali was asking the tourists to take their seats around the tables. The newlyweds snuggled with one another and giggled. The other couples reassembled themselves as well. Catherine and Grissom paired off at another table. As soon as there was some order present, Dr Halwas appeared.

"Greetings, greetings, dear friends!" he offered a broad smile. "Let me add my welcome on behalf of Egypt and the pyramids!"

Applause thundered through the tent. He motioned and the clapping died down.

"We at the Antiquities Department are very encouraged by your presence. I trust that my assistants have gotten you acquainted with the general rules. Please make use of the netting as malaria is a real disease here in this region. Mosquitoes generally are present at dusk and dawn and seldom bother us in the heat of the day. However, you may want to make use of your repellants. After you have freshened up, we will be assigning working teams and will get you out to your sites." He looked at the newlyweds, "Also, since you are in a Muslim country, we do ask that you be sensitive to our customs. In Egypt, we keep our intimacies to ourselves," with that the Russian, pretending to scratch his ear, nudged the new husband. Then the Russian gave the younger man a wicked look of rebuke.

Dr Halwas finished, "We ask that the men stay out of the women's tent and vice versa." He paused then continued, "We have quite a lot of discovery for you to participate in this week. Now let's get to it!" he finished with a flourish dismissing the group back to their respective tents to "freshen up."

Grissom donned his hiking shorts, straw hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Catherine did the same in her tent. When they saw one another, they laughed to see that each had also worn the work vest they were used to wearing in the field.

"You grease your feet?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Huh?" Catherine had a puzzled look on her face.

"Come with me," Grissom motioned her into the mess tent. "Take off your boots, Catherine."

Sitting, she complied. Grissom took off his glasses and took out a tube of petroleum jelly.

"Socks, too, my dear," he smiled. "I think you'll like this," he gave a wicked smile.

He uncapped the tube and spread a glob of grease on his hands. He began to rub the grease into Catherine's feet and in between her toes. She did like it; it made her feel funny all over; that scared her. Grissom just kept massaging her feet.

"This will keep your feet cooler," he spoke so softly. "You remember that case when we found that cult dead out in the desert? You remember how scalded and blistered your feet got? This will keep them from getting scalded and blistered again."

Catherine was mesmerized as Grissom's hands lolled over her toes and rubbed gently in her insteps, "Oh God, Gil…" she stammered. She thought her eyes might just roll into the back of her head at any moment.

He smiled, "It acts like the bearing grease on cars, keeping the bearings cool and lubricated. It will also keep your boots from rubbing your heels raw," he commented as he stroked her heels and lower calves.

He began to replace her socks. The tender experience was over nearly as soon as it had begun.

"Who taught you…?" Catherine demanded to know.

He smiled, "A Marine buddy of mine. We did a good bit of hiking in school and I got pretty badly blistered on the first two hikes. She had been a Drill Instructor in South Carolina and knew all the tricks of avoiding blisters. She also taught me how to pack a pack to make it more comfortable to carry. And other useful stuff like that."

She wiggled her toes in her boots, "Well, I'm glad she did. My toes feel all slimy though. It feels funny," she giggled.

"In time, it will feel normal. Tomorrow, wear two pairs of socks to protect your feet even more," he flashed a second sock top rolled into the other sock. Grissom wore mid-calf boots with two pairs of socks sticking out of the top.

As soon as Grissom had tapped Catherine's calf, Dr. Halwas joined them in the tent.

Thrusting out his hand to Grissom, "Ah, Dr Grissom! It's so good to have you on the team. I have a special spot picked out for you and your lovely lady."

Catherine extended her hand with a smile, "Catherine Willows, Las Vegas Crime Lab."

Halwas took her hand and gave it a courtly kiss, "So good to have you, too, Ms Willows!"

Catherine looked at Grissom who could not help grinning at the gesture.

"Please, please, follow me. We are off to Saqqara, the first necropolis of the ancients," he motioned to the open jeep in front of the mess tent. Halwas drove, putting Catherine in the back. He shuttled the jeep out past the rest of the dig sites and out beyond the berm. Catherine had to hold on tightly as the jeep swayed back and forth through the sand. She also found that riding in the back seat offered her the opportunity to eat the sand as well. She tucked her face and head down into the tee shirt she was wearing. After thirty grueling minutes, they halted. Halwas hopped out and scurried over to an underground excavation site.

"Come over here, Dr Grissom, Ms Willows. This way, please!" he urged them. "One day the sand blew away to reveal this building which we think is a tomb. It seems to have been lost even to antiquity."

Grissom looked back for Catherine with one of those, "let's see what out there" looks of his. Catherine, however, was still spitting dust. She shook her head to try and free it from the sand that seemed to have already made its way to her scalp. It made her head itch.

"This is Saqqara where the earliest Pharaohs were entombed," began Halwass, motioning around a large plain. "We are hoping to find the remains of the 6th dynasty which ruled just prior to the First Intermediate Period…"

Catherine shot Grissom a look of utter lack of understanding. Grissom squeezed his eyes a bit and nodded to her as if to tell her that he'd explain it all later.

"…have found some evidence of four of those pharaohs. Pepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II are all in Saqqara South while the founder Teti is in the northern section. There was great palace intrigue as Teti was murdered in a palace coup."

Grissom chimed in to help Catherine get a bigger picture of who did what to whom, "One theory has it that Userkare from the preceding dynasty helped Teti to the afterlife. One historian, Manetho says that Teti's bodyguard killed him. Others see it as Teti's usurpation of the priesthood."

"Excellent, Professor! Not unlike the Roman Emperor's Praetorian Guards who would occasionally help the politics along by killing a rogue Emperor like Caligula or Nero," added Halwas. "I see you understand your Egyptian history, Dr Grissom," he finished up with a smile.

"It has been a hobby of mine for a while," nodded Grissom.

"This way, please," Halwas drew then toward a brick mausoleum. "We recently uncovered this mastaba. Ms Willows, the 6th dynasty was a dynasty that would see the decline of the Old Kingdom. After the pyramids of the 3rd dynasty, some feel that Egypt lost its economic grip on things. There was an oversized royal family that had to be maintained in style. Greater and greater contentions played out between the kingship and the priesthood."

Catherine nodded as if she understood all that they were discussing, but her eyes kept moving back to Grissom to bail her out of such unfamiliar material. She had taken a few college classes in history, but nothing had prepared her for this – living and breathing history.

"How do we know that?" she wondered out loud.

"Simple, my dear. The wall décor of the tombs began to show the rituals that the dead king had to use in order to get to the afterlife successfully. The earliest tombs did not have those. They did have temple complexes for several resident priests. We deduce that the priests were in charge of the daily prayers for the dead to insure a safe passage," Grissom commented to her as if getting her up to speed on a current case.

"Okay," Catherine gave a long head nod. She was in over her head on this one.

Inside the tomb, Halwas offered them hard hats and lights. Catherine had already reached for her flashlight. She put it back in her vest and took the one Halwas offered. It took them a few minutes for their eyes to adjust. Then Grissom saw it and walked toward it.

"This is amazing!" he exclaimed.

Halwas was grinning ear-to-ear, "Yes, it is, isn't it?"

Characters began to dance across the walls. Some of the plaster lay in ruins at their feet.

"This is like a crime scene," muttered Catherine.

"Indeed," laughed Halwas. "It's why I wanted you two to work with me on this. Later today, a tent will go up in front and we can begin to sort out the pieces."

Grissom moved his flashlight around the room. He softly moved toward what looked like a crack in the back wall.

"You know, I think there is something back here," he motioned to Halwas.

The space was confined to say the least, but Halwas climbed across crushed bricks to get to Grissom's side.

"Look here," Grissom shone his light sideways against the crack. He put his cheek by the line on the wall.

"Never argue with Gil's 'mojo,' Dr Halwas," grinned Catherine. "His instinct for finding dead bodies is uncanny. Bet there is a DB behind door number one," she jested and began to pick up little pieces of plaster.

"We'd shoot photos then use a pry bar to get back in there on a crime scene," offered Grissom. "How do you want to approach it?"

"Carefully and slowly," Halwas answered. "I think I shall have some more lights brought up and around. Perhaps that will give us greater clues as to how to proceed."

Within a few hours, a fly tent, tables, lights had all been brought around. Catherine had picked up most of the fallen plaster pieces and had begun to puzzle them back together just as she would do on the layout table back in Las Vegas. While she did not read hieroglyphs, she could piece just about any puzzle back together. This was a tad bit more challenging since there was no box top to refer to.

On the other hand, Grissom had accompanied another man back into the mastaba. Within a few hours they had a hole big enough to put a light through and take a look. What they saw sent a buzz through the whole camp. A large, furnished room full of shadows and artifacts awaited exploration.

Catherine's reconstruction was coming along nicely when Halwas noticed something.

"Egad! Do you know what we have found?" Halwas exclaimed.

Catherine looked dumbfounded and shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't read hieroglyphs."

Halwas pointed to a partially reconstructed section, "This is a royal cartouche!"

He peered at it for a long moment. To Catherine it looked like a pair of hands raised in exclamation under a couple of other symbols that made no sense and topped off by what looked like a ball or maybe the sun. All of those glyphs were surrounded by an oval. Halwas rummaged through some of the shards looking for missing pieces as if he knew what the box top looked like. He found a little piece and put it into place. He repeated the process until nearly the entire cartouche appeared, cracked but nearly complete.

"We've found Userkare's tomb!" he shouted. "He really existed!" He hugged them both before darting to the jeep out front. "Please keep doing what you are doing, Ms Willows. I must notify my superiors of this great find. But first to Allain!"

"Need any help?" Grissom asked as he returned fm the interior of the tomb for a breath of air. He fanned himself with his hat.

"Sure, you bet," she smiled. "Can you read any of this stuff?"

Grissom shook his head, "I do know that this one," he pointed to the one that got Halwas' attention, "is a royal name. They would put a ring around the Pharaoh's name so that it stood out from the rest of the writing."

Grissom began to put more puzzle pieces into place.

"You know it would be exciting to get inside that next chamber," Grissom smiled, head down, puzzling along on the table.

Catherine grinned, too, "Yeah. It would be."

They worked for a little longer in companionable silence. Halwas returned with three other men. One was not Egyptian by his looks.

"This is Dr Allain de Soulvay from the French team which is working on the other side of Saqqara on some pre-dynastic graves," introduced Halwas. "Dr Gilbert Grissom from Las Vegas and his lovely associate Ms Catherine Willows."

The Frenchman nodded to them. "So let's see what we've got, Muhammad," he said with some excitement in his voice. "Ah, yes, it is Userkare! Have you gotten inside the tomb yet?" They drifted into the interior.

"You can't breathe in there. It's just too hot for words," Grissom commented. "I know it's hot out here, but this is a little better than in there," he finished absent-mindedly.

Catherine and Grissom remained by the table pulling more pieces into place. They could hear the noise of joy in the small antechamber. Later, near dusk, more of the hidden chamber was exposed. The chamber was another antechamber. Grissom explained to Catherine that many royal tombs held multiple antechambers. Each chamber may hold grave goods or, even more valuable, texts that told the story of that pharaoh or member of the king's family.

When the tourists assembled for supper, the mess tent was humming with activity and voices. The Greeks wanted to know first hand from Catherine and Grissom more about their find. However, before they could get the story told, Dr Halwas took over the tent.

"Friends!" he called out. "We truly had a most remarkable day at Saqqara South with the help of our team members from Las Vegas," he beamed at Catherine and Grissom, even as Grissom looked decidedly uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Were it not for the keen eyes and instinct of Dr Grissom, we would not have found the next chamber of the tomb quite so rapidly," Halwas continued. "Next, we shall photograph every artifact in place before removing the items. They will be catalogued, packed, and shipped to the museum staff in Cairo for further analysis. We expect more chambers to be recovered one-by-one. Presently we have guards maintaining a vigil against theft."

The room's hushed whispers broke into applause. Halwas motioned for more silence; he was not quite finished.

"And we have Ms Willows to thank for unearthing the cartouche of the Pharaoh. Her skills are nothing short of remarkable…"

More applause broke out.

"As we had hoped, we have found a 6th Dynasty Pharaoh," he paused for effect. "It would appear we are exploring Userkare's tomb."

The crowd breathed in all at once. A murmur went up again.

"We may finally unlock what happened to him and perhaps even to Teti himself!" his voice rose, "This has been a truly historic day!"

It was nearing the end of the tour. Catherine and Grissom had worked mostly under the fly tent packing the artifacts from the chamber that Grissom had helped to rediscover. Catherine had put 80 percent of the shards into some meaningful order. Although, she thought her eyes would never be the same again. The antechamber held a few more glyphs that had remained attached to their respective walls. Never again would she complain about having to put paper shreds back together. At least she could read the text on those! As yet, there was no indication that this pharaoh was any different from any other pharaoh. Perhaps in a chamber or two further on they would find the mummy of Userkare himself. His body may hold the clues that Egyptologists had been searching for since finding the pharaoh's name in only a few other places. Halwas explained to Catherine that most of the extensive writings took shape on tomb walls after the pharaohs had helped themselves to the priests' power in subsequent dynasties. No longer was the king beholding to the priest to get into the afterlife. All he would have to do is read the texts in his own tomb.

While she knew that her job at the site was every bit as important as those combing, photographing, and removing artifacts from the ruin, hers seemed mind numbingly more tedious. Occasionally, she'd shift to photographing the interior or wrapping artifacts for shipment to the museum. Both she and Grissom felt a tingle of excitement as they touched burial items that dated back to around 2300 BC. Catherine's cotton gloved fingers stroked tiny statues made of stone and others made from gold. The figures still retained the colorful paints that had been applied for a god-king nearly 4000 years ago. She wondered how much like Userkare the figures looked like him, or if they were even supposed to look like him. There were ushabti figurines of obvious slaves in stone. There was one intriguing golden statuette of a woman. The woman looked exotically elegant, and Catherine guessed that she was the queen or favorite concubine. Grissom found himself lost in the scarabs, both in jade and encased in amber, preserved forever. There were also beetles which had found their way into the tomb chambers before it was sealed. To touch their bodies was to turn them to dust instantly. Since Halwas knew Grissom's passion for insects, he instructed the others to let Grissom know when a remnant of ancient times was found. More than once, Grissom could be found on his hands and knees examining an interesting specimen.

As a special "thank you" treat, Halwas gave Grissom and Catherine an exclusive and private tour of all of the Giza pyramids plus the many pyramids at Saqqara apart from the tours given the other participants of the working tour group. Halwas began with Djoser's pyramid then moved to the tomb of Teti in Saqqara North. There were three kings' pyramids to examine in Saqqara South as well. Halwas showed them the Apis bull burials at the Memphis Serapeum, too. It was mind boggling to Catherine and Grissom that New Kingdom's Apis bulls would rate a burial nearly as grand as a pharaoh. The sarcophagi were some 60 to 80 tons each. Catherine found all the pyramids close and uncomfortably stuffy. Even at night, when the normal crowds had left, the interiors were stiflingly hot. The Grand Gallery in Kufu's tomb was a taxing climb. Grissom had expected more in the King's Chamber other than an empty sarcophagus. It was surprisingly small in size. Grissom was disappointed that there was not enough time to explore the Valley of the Kings or even Abydos, where Tutankamun's father had broken with millennia of Egyptian history. Neither was there time to explore the tombs outside Alexandria that reflected the influences of Alexander the Great and more Serapeum burials. There was more to do and see than time permitted. Then Halwas drove them into Cairo to the museum for a private tour. Grissom could hardly contain his growing excitement. Catherine was exhausted from the tours and could scarcely wait to get back to home, Lindsey, and regular work. She could not understand how Grissom kept going. The more Halwas threw at them, the more energized Grissom seemed to become. All Catherine wanted to do was collapse in a comfortable chair somewhere and sleep for a week or two. She was glad that pyramid building had, for all intents and purposes, ended by the late 8th Dynasty.

The end of the tour came with Ali shuttling them all back to the airport. Catherine had been surprised by how comfortable the tent accommodations had actually been. Then again, perhaps it was more a factor of exhaustion she experienced each day. Nothing had seemed to faze Grissom who was as bright and chipper as the day she had slid him the brochure. In fact, he looked like he was ready to do it all over again.

"Gil, how can you be so, so, so awake?" Catherine wanted to know as they stood in line. She was practically draped across his back. "I don't know if I can stand here in the spot much longer and not fall asleep."

Grissom smiled gently, "I just lived out a fantasy I have had since I was a boy."

"Oh gee, and I thought you had been in the No-Doz bottle or something," she said lazily.

"Come on Catherine," he began, "we helped uncover a pharaoh that some weren't sure ever really existed. I'd love to stay and see what they find out about him. If they get to his body, to more texts, more clues as to who he was and how he died. He only reigned perhaps a year at the most. His name was nearly lost to us. It only appears a couple of times. You know when Egyptians wanted you to disappear, they would scratch off your name, scratch out your face, mess up your mummy."

Catherine murmered her acknowledgement of what Grissom was telling her.

"It's a miracle we even found the tomb," Grissom continued. "Dr Halwas told me that it was purely chance that the sand had blown away. Most of the brick mastabas did not survive into the present tense. Most decayed away. I guess the sand helped to preserve this one. And inside, I could not believe it! It was nearly perfect. I feel like Howard Carter…"

"Who?"

"Howard Carter," he looked down at her. "Howard Carter was the guy who brought King Tut back to life. They think that an earthquake or something covered over the tomb entrance so that the usual grave robbers could not get in and plunder. Plus it looked like Tut was buried in some haste. But this find," he shook his head, " was astounding. It looked like a leisurely burial with all the rites performed. It's just that, I guess, a sand storm buried it shortly after the last rite into the afterlife was done. Perhaps the priests who were supposed to do perpetual follow-up rituals just abandoned their posts. Perhaps Userkare was a usurper whose tomb was left to rot. I wonder if we will ever know exactly what happened there…" his voice trailed off.

"Gil, we do love mysteries, don't we?" laughed Catherine as Grissom smiled.

Six months later, Grissom and Catherine were in the lab and this time it was Grissom who slid a brochure across the bench to her. Inside the brochure were three plane reservations to New York City and theatre tickets for _The Producers_.


End file.
